4 DETROIT LIONS

Bobby Ross's first training camp as coach of the Lions was
unlike anything Detroit players had seen in recent years. Ross's
predecessor, the ultraloose Wayne Fontes, would pick up kids in
his golf cart and chauffeur them around the practice field to
watch various drills. Camp Fontes may not have had a
country-club atmosphere, but it was close. Camp Ross was intense
to the point of being grim. After receivers dropped a couple of
balls in a drill one day, Ross vented. "Start over!" he yelled.
"The whole drill! We aren't doing this just to do it!"

The handful of players who tired of Fontes's easygoing style
suddenly have hope with Ross and his equally tough assistants.
"With this coaching staff," wideout Johnnie Morton says of the
new mood in camp, "Detroit's not as cold anymore."

Not long after being named coach in January, Ross announced he
was moving the club's training camp from the Silverdome 85 miles
north to Saginaw. Under Fontes, players stayed at a hotel down
the road from their training-camp site, but they weren't far
away from the distractions of families and friends. Ross
believes that getting away from the comforts of home helps the
players to bond, not to mention toughen up.

Last season Detroit had one of the league's softest defensive
fronts, a unit so porous that it offset perhaps the NFL's most
lethal weapons. Imagine this: The Lions had Barry Sanders, who
won his third league rushing title, and they still went 5-11, in
large part because the opposition outrushed them by 12 yards a
game. How was that possible?

"Well," says defensive end Robert Porcher, "we had that
bend-but-don't-break philosophy, and unfortunately we bent quite
a bit against the run. But all through training camp we've
really been focused on the run. There's a lot of precision in
our practice sessions. Coach Ross is into every little detail.
He's not going to let us fail."

Indeed, after watching film from 1996, Ross was chagrined by how
poorly the Lions tackled, how ineffective they were in shedding
blockers and how undisciplined they were about staying in their
rushing lanes. "The starting point for us to be a good team is
stopping the run," Ross says. "It's strange, but when I looked
at how they played last year, they were first in the league on
yards per carry allowed on first down. You can be sure we'll be
better. We have to be."

Sounds good, but this is mostly the same cast of characters that
ranked 25th in the league against the run last year. (The
notable exception is tackle Mike Wells, a fourth-year player who
made one start in '96; he replaces Henry Thomas, who signed with
the Patriots as a free agent.) The front seven players average
only 263 pounds, and they could get manhandled by a couple of
the NFC Central's bigger offensive lines. For instance, the
Packers' front averages 300 pounds, the Vikings' a stouter 308.

Ross is counting on 291-pound tackle Luther Elliss, a
first-round draft pick in '95 who started 30 games in his first
two seasons, to plug some of the holes. "Elliss could be a
big-time player," Ross says. "He reminds me of [Raiders Pro Bowl
defensive tackle] Chester McGlockton."

Ross won a national championship at, of all places, Georgia Tech
in 1990, and he took the overachieving Chargers to their first
Super Bowl, in '94. Run defense was one of the reasons for the
latter success.

"The players are not afraid of hard work, even though we might
have gotten away from it," Porcher says. "If it's not demanded,
when you get tired in the fourth quarter, you're not going to
have it in you to play hard. That's how we'll be different.
We'll have it in the fourth quarter."

That will mean something only if the Lions can stop the run in
the first three quarters.

--P.K.

COLOR PHOTO: LOUIS DELUCA Sanders's run up the NFL's alltime rushing list doesn't count for much if the Detroit defense is giving up just as many yards on the ground. [Barry Sanders carrying football in game]

BY THE NUMBERS

1996 Yards per Game (NFL rank)
1996 Record: 5-11 (fifth in NFC Central)

Rushing Passing Total
OFFENSE 113.1 (12) 200.2 (18) 313.3 (20)
DEFENSE 125.4 (25) 209.0 (18) 334.4 (20)

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Barry Sanders, the '96 NFL rushing champion, also was first in
the league last season in rushes of 20 or more yards and in
rushes for negative yardage--the third consecutive year in which
he has achieved that dubious double.

Most rushes of 20 or Most rushes for negative yardage
more yards in 1996 in 1996

Barry Sanders, Lions 12 Barry Sanders, Lions 44
Napoleon Kaufman, Raiders 9 Curtis Martin, Patriots 40
Terry Allen, Redskins 8 Garrison Hearst, Bengals 37
Eddie George, Oilers 8 Eddie George, Oilers 33
Adrian Murrell, Jets 7 Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Dolphins 31
Lamar Smith, Seahawks 7 Four players tied 30

SCHEDULE SKINNY

The Lions can't use the schedule as an excuse. Despite playing
six games against teams that were in the playoffs last season,
Detroit has the NFL's easiest schedule. Seven of the first eight
games are against clubs that are expected to hover around or
finish well below .500: the Falcons, the Buccaneers (twice), the
Bears, the Saints, the Bills and the Giants. A soft November
home stand (Vikings, Colts, Bears) could propel Detroit into
wild-card contention. In a scheduling quirk the Lions, 1-7 away
from the Silverdome in '96, have four pairs of back-to-back road
games.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
NFL rank: 30 Opponents' 1996 winning percentage: .465
Games against playoff teams: 6

The Lineup With 1996 Statistics

Coach: Bobby Ross

Offensive Backs

QB Scott Mitchell 437 att. 253 comp. 57.9% 2,917 yds.
17 TDs 17 int. 74.9 rtg.
RB Barry Sanders 307 att. 1,553 yds. 5.1 avg. 24 rec.
147 yds. 6.1 avg. 11 TDs
FB Cory Schlesinger 0 att. 0 yds 0 avg. 0 rec.
0 yds. 0 avg. 0 TDs

Receivers, Specialists, Offensive Linemen

WR Herman Moore 106 rec. 1,296 yds. 9 TDs
WR Johnnie Morton 55 rec. 714 yds. 6 TDs
WR Glyn Milburn 0 rec. 0 yds. 0 TDs
TE David Sloan 7 rec. 51 yds. 0 TDs
PK Jason Hanson 36/36 PATs 12/17 FGs 72 pts.
KR Glyn Milburn 64 ret. 25.4 avg. 0 TDs
PR Glyn Milburn 34 ret. 8.4 avg. 0 TDs
LT Ray Roberts 6'6" 308 lbs. 16 games 16 starts
LG Mike Compton 6'6" 297 lbs. 15 games 15 starts
C Kevin Glover 6'2" 282 lbs. 16 games 16 starts
RG Jeff Hartings 6'3" 283 lbs. 11 games 10 starts
RT Juan Roque (R)[*] 6'8" 333 lbs. 11 games 11 starts

Defense

LE Robert Porcher 66 tackles 10 sacks
LT Luther Elliss 49 tackles 6 1/2 sacks
RT Mike Wells 30 tackles 0 sacks
RE Kerwin Waldroup 45 tackles 2 1/2 sacks
OLB Antonio London 68 tackles 3 sacks
MLB Matt Russell (R)[*] 137 tackles 3 sacks
OLB Reggie Brown 50 tackles 0 sacks
CB Bryant Westbrook (R)[*] 52 tackles 2 int.
SS Van Malone 75 tackles 1 int.
FS Mark Carrier[*] 51 tackles 2 int.
CB Corey Raymond 66 tackles 1 int.
P John Jett[*] 74 punts 42.6 avg.

[*]New acquisition
Rookie statistics for final college year